Basically there was a ton of fear mongering between the 70s-90s that Japan would overtake the US technologically, as heavy industry in the USA was suffering and Japan was making major inroads into the US economy through car companies such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi, as well as in electronics with Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba. A lot of Orientalism and “super-humanising” was going on at the time. Practically every second movie basically had American characters working hesitantly under Japanese superiors. I mean Blade Runner is the most obvious example of this on the movie side, it’s pretty much Los Angeles under complete Japanese control.